Below is the full conference schedule of scholarly and public events. To attend all these events requires both conference registration and registration for public events.
Events highlit in blue are also open to the public. View the full list of Public Events.
See the full list of presenters.
Wednesday, July 26 (Pre-Conference) — Downtown Calgary
Walking Conversation with Calgary author and literary historian Shaun Hunter
Shaun Hunter, author of Calgary Through the Eyes of Writers, will guide conference registrants and descendants to two of the many Calgary addresses that Winnifred Eaton called home. During this walking conversation, we will share stories, anecdotes and memories of Winnifred Eaton’s Calgary years. Those who miss this tour can sign up for Historic Calgary Week’s Sunday walking tour but space is limited and the Wednesday walk caters to people familiar with Eaton.
The route is ~2 km (1 mile).
Join us afterwards for a no-host meal at Last Best Brewing! (607 11 Ave SW). Reservation for 6 PM.
*This event is restricted to conference registrants (sign up during conference registration).
Sponsored by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities
Thursday, July 27 — University of Calgary
Coffee and Registration
Welcome by Elders and Jason Wiens (Acting Associate Dean, Teaching, Learning, and Student Engagement)
Opening Remarks by Mary Chapman (Conference Director and Director of the Winnifred Eaton Archive, University of British Columbia)
Diana Birchall (Eaton’s granddaughter and biographer), “The Fairy Germs: Being Winnifred Eaton’s Granddaughter”
Drawing on extensive research done for her ground-breaking biography, Onoto Watanna: The Story of Winnifred Eaton, and generations of family lore, Eaton’s granddaughter Diana Birchall will reflect on her discoveries about the woman who powerfully influenced her own life and choices across a distant divide in time and place. Diana will provide some history about several generations of Winnifred’s family, which has included indomitable, pioneering women, rich in what Winnifred herself called the storytelling “germ”. A changeable role-player and survivor–determined, ambitious, flamboyant, talented, and “almost hysterically alive”–Winnifred was so singular a personality as to be almost unclassifiable. She has consequently been elusive to pin down. From her adventures in New York and Hollywood to her contributions to early Calgary’s theatrical pageantry, Winnifred’s remarkable life had more of an impact and left a richer field for scholarship than she herself–as imaginative as she was–could ever have dreamed.
Plenary by Spencer Tricker (English, Clark University), “Creating a ‘Japanese Atmosphere’: Relocating Eurasian Desire in Winnifred Eaton and Sadakichi Hartmann’s New York”
Scholarship on Winnifred Eaton has largely focused on her novels. The recent launch of the Winnifred Eaton Archive, however, provides new opportunities to examine Eaton’s prolific career as a magazine writer. In my lecture, I will discuss how her periodical literature evokes and channels what I call cosmopolitan affect—an emotional disposition towards world community, understood as either a philosophical premise or political project—along lines that alternately converge with and diverge from “Pacific Imminence,” my term for an underexamined discourse of US empire, emergent in the nineteenth century, that instrumentalized cosmopolitan feeling in service of geopolitical hegemony. I also consider how Eaton’s magazine writing around the time of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) both registers and disavows forms of transpacific, inter-imperial conflict that may resonate with our present moment, in which east Asia and the Pacific Ocean are poised to regain the center stage of North American foreign policy.
Sponsored by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), University of Calgary (Library and Cultural Resources, and the Faculty of Arts), Good Earth Coffeehouse, and Invisible Publishing.
12:30pm-2:00pm
No-host lunch
Nearby venues:
- Good Earth Coffeehouse (TFDL, Main Floor)
- Last Defence Lounge (MacEwan Conference and Event Centre, Main Floor)
- MacEwan Student Centre food court (MacEwan Student Centre, Second floor)
The Winnifred Eaton Reeve Fonds
A scholarly panel chaired by Jason Wiens (English, University of Calgary)
- Annie Murray (Associate University Librarian, Special Collections, University of Calgary), “The Multiple Lives of the Winnifred Eaton Reeve fonds at the University of Calgary”
- Jean Lee Cole (Professor Emerita, English, Loyola University Maryland), “Origin Story: Winnifred Eaton Digital Archive (RIP)”
- Showcase and demo of the latest updates and features of the Winnifred Eaton Archive by Joey Takeda (Technical Director, Winnifred Eaton Archive, and Developer, Digital Humanities Innovation Lab, Simon Fraser University) and Sydney Lines (Project Manager, Winnifred Eaton Archive, and English Ph.D. student, University of British Columbia)
Sponsored by SSHRC, the University of Calgary (Library and Cultural Resources, and Department of English), Simon Fraser University Library, and University of British Columbia (Public Humanities Hub, Department of English, and Faculty of Arts)
On Performance
A scholarly panel chaired by Rena Heinrich (School of Dramatic Arts, University of Southern California)
- Hedy Law (Music, University of British Columbia), “Writing and Singing in the First-Person Singular: Autobiographical Accounts in Me (1915) and Muk’yu Songs (ca. 1910–1949)”
- Sydney Lines (English, University of British Columbia), “Performing Heritage: Winnifred Eaton and Romantic Re-Enactment at the Lake Windermere Gathering”
- Colleen Kim Daniher (Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University), “Bits and Pieces: Re-situating Winnifred Eaton within Canadian Theatre Historiography”
Sponsored by the University of Calgary School of Creative and Performing Arts
Public Lecture by Nancy Yunhwa Rao (Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University), “Theatrical Presence: The Public Face of the Chinese Community in North America.”
In this free public lecture, Nancy Rao, author of Chinatown Opera Theatre in North America, discusses the importance of theatre to Chinese immigrant communities in Canada and the US, drawing on evidence provided by historical Chinese immigrant newspapers, theatre company records, playbills, as well as family memorabilia.
Moderated by Mary Chapman (English, UBC)
Sponsored by SSHRC and the University of Calgary Faculty of Arts (School of Creative and Performing Arts and Calgary Institute for the Humanities)
Free and open to the public.
Tour of the Reeve Theatre, by Christine Brubaker (Drama Division Lead of School of Creative and Performing Arts) and Constantina Caldis Roberts (Academic Program Specialist, SCPA)
The Reeve Theatre at University of Calgary, opened in 1981, was funded in part by by a $1 million donation from the Reeve Foundation founded by Winnifred Eaton’s husband, Calgary oilman Frank Reeve, after her death. It was designed by Hugh McMillan Architect Ltd. of Calgary to provide over 2,000 square metres of experimental instruction and performance space. Come learn more about the history of this architectural and theatrical gem.
Books about and by Winnifred Eaton, including a new edition of Eaton’s novel Cattle (Invisible Press), will be available for purchase from Shelf Life Books.
Sponsored by the University of Calgary School of Creative and Performing Arts and Shelf Life Books
Free and open to the public.
Private Reception
Conference registrants and invited guests can meet the plenary speaker Nancy Rao as well as several of Eaton’s descendants. Refreshments will be served.
Sponsored by the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Arts (School of Creative and Performing Arts and the Calgary Institute for the Humanities)
*This event is restricted to conference registrants, Eaton descendants, and invited guests (sign up during conference registration).
Friday, July 28 — University of Calgary
Eaton’s Alberta Novels
A scholarly panel chaired by Lily Cho (Vice Provost and Associate Vice-President, Western University)
- Dominika Ferens (English, University of Wroclaw), “The cultural politics of unfeeling: Winnifred Eaton’s Cattle and Thomas Savage’s The Power of the Dog”
- Jill Aston (English, Texas A&M University-Kingsville), “Winnifred Eaton’s Cattle (1924) and Dorothy Scarborough’s The Wind (1925): Where Naturalism and Modernism Intersect”
- Joey Takeda (Digital Humanities Innovation Lab, Simon Fraser University), “Reassessing Winnifred Eaton Reeve: His Royal Nibs (1925) and the Reinvention of Identity”
Sponsored by the University of Calgary Library and Cultural Resources
On Affect in Eaton’s Works
A scholarly panel chaired by Shoshannah Ganz (English, Memorial University)
- Xine Yao (English, University College London), “Desire and Asian Diasporic Fiction: Coquettes and Seduction in Eaton’s Miss Nume of Japan”
- Shelley Hulan (English, University of Waterloo), “Nora Ascough’s Strategic Naivety in Eaton’s Me”
- Karen Skinazi (Liberal Arts, University of Bristol), “Suicide Girls of the Progressive Era”
Sponsored by the University of Calgary Library and Cultural Resources
12:00pm-1:30pm
No-host lunch
Nearby venues:
- Good Earth Coffeehouse (TFDL, Main Floor)
- Last Defence Lounge (MacEwan Conference and Event Centre, Main Floor)
- MacEwan Student Centre food court (MacEwan Student Centre, Second floor)
Transcribe-a-thon, “Transcribing Texts in the Winnifred Eaton Archive”
Joey Takeda (Technical Director, Winnifred Eaton Archive, and Developer, Digital Humanities Innovation Lab, Simon Fraser University) and Sydney Lines (Project Manager, Winnifred Eaton Archive, and English Ph.D. student, University of British Columbia)
Explore and enhance the Winnifred Eaton Archive by learning how to transcribe texts in this hands-on workshop! Once finished, transcriptions will be encoded and added to the archive with a credit listing the transcriber’s name. Technical skills required: the ability to read and type, and a basic familiarity with word processors (e.g. MS Word or Google Docs).
For those interested, there will also be opportunities to learn about text encoding and markup (TEI and XML) for digital literary works.
Sponsored by Simon Fraser University Library, University of British Columbia’s Department of English Language and Literatures, and UBC Public Humanities Hub
Free and open to the public. Bring your own laptop.
Winnifred Reeve in Hollywood
A panel chaired by S. Louisa Wei (School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong) with a few opening words by Irene DeBoni (Chinook Country Historical Society)
- Vito Adriaensens (Film, Columbia University / Université libre de Bruxelles), “Winnifred goes to Hollywood”
- Karintha Lowe (English and History, Sarah Lawrence College), “Ephemeral Melodrama in Winnifred Eaton’s Cattle”
A Historic Calgary Week event sponsored by Chinook Country Historical Society and the University of Calgary’s School of Creative and Performing Arts
Free and open to the public.
4:45pm-6:00pm
Hosted happy hour at Last Defence Lounge
For conference registrants only.
A public screening of Phantom of the Opera (Universal Studios, 1925/1929)
Join us for a screening of Universal Studios’ adaptation (written by Winnifred Eaton) of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel, starring silent film stars Mary Philbin and Lon Chaney and directed by Rupert Julian. In the 1920-30s, Eaton ran the scriptwriting department at Universal Studios in Hollywood and contributed to at least 14 films produced by Universal and MGM, including Phantom of the Opera (1925) and Barbary Coast (1935). This screening of a film from Eaton’s oeuvre will be followed by discussion with Vito Adriaensens (Film, Columbia University / Université libre de Bruxelles), Katie Gee Salisbury (writer, Not Your China Doll), and S. Louisa Wei (School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong).
A Historic Calgary Week event sponsored by Chinook Country Historical Society, University of Calgary School of Creative and Performing Arts, Department of Communication, Media and Film, and the Calgary Institute for the Humanities
Free and open to the public.
Saturday, July 29 — Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre
Performance-as-Research
A creative/scholarly panel chaired by Mary Chapman (English, University of British Columbia). Curated by Colleen Kim Daniher and Rena Heinrich.
- Rena Heinrich (School of Dramatic Arts, University of Southern California), “Tama: A Staged Reading”
- Colleen Kim Daniher (Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University), “Feast: Cooking with Winnie and Sara (Fluxus Style)”
Presentation, “Getting Started in Chinese Genealogy” by Linda Yip (Past Presence), followed by discussion moderated by Mary Chapman (English, UBC)
Have you ever wanted to trace your ancestry but are unsure where to start? Learn from a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Ancestry Canada Advisory Board, and many other genealogy societies, how to research your ancestors and other historical figures. In this free presentation, professional genealogist Linda Yip will introduce attendees to valuable online sources available to Canadians researching their genealogy, particularly resources newly organized and/or made available in 2023, the centenary of what has come to be known as Canada’s Exclusion Act. This presentation will be particularly helpful to participants needing guidance about how best to conduct research on Chinese Canadian ancestry in Western Canada.
A Historic Calgary Week event sponsored by Chinook Country Historical Society, UBC’s Public Humanities Hub, and the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre
Free and open to the public.
“Have you eaten yet?” The importance of food in Winnifred Eaton’s works
Chaired by Kesia Kvill (Chief Curator, Heritage Park Historical Village)
- Koby Song-Nichols (History, University of Toronto), “Cooking with Sara Bosse and Onoto Watanna: An Analysis of The Chinese-Japanese Cookbook (1914)”
- Shuyin Yu (English, University of Calgary), “Exquisite Tastes, Unsatisfied Appetites: The Chinese-Japanese Cookbook and Depictions of Food in Onoto Watanna’s Novels”
Sponsored by the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre
Teaching Winnifred Eaton’s Works
Chaired by Karen Skinazi (Liberal Arts, U Bristol)
- Christena McKillop (University of Calgary Library), “Activating the Winnifred Eaton Reeve Collection for Teaching Undergraduate and Graduate Students”
- Yuki Matsumoto (Literature, Arts, and Cultural Studies, Kindai University, Japan), “Reading and Teaching Onoto Watanna and Her Sister Sui Sin Far in Japan”
- Shoshannah Ganz (English, Memorial University–Grenfell), “Reading and Teaching the Influence of the English Translation of Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji on Onoto Watanna’s The Daughters of Nijo and The Honorable Miss Moonlight”
Sponsored by the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre
12:15pm-1:45pm
No-host lunch
Nearby venues:
- Eau Claire Market (200 Barclay Parade SW #202)
- Deville Coffee (215 2 St SW)
- Point Sushi (116 2 Ave SW)
- Cedars Deli (BP Center, 240 4 Ave SW #205)
Public Lecture by Lily Cho (Vice Provost and Associate Vice-President, Western University), “Mass Capture and Chinese Canadian History”
Chaired by Karintha Lowe (English and History, Sarah Lawrence College)
In this free public lecture, Lily Cho will share findings from her recent award-winning book Mass Capture: The Chinese Head Tax and the Making of Non-Citizens. Between 1885 and 1953, and after the 1923 passage of the Chinese Immigration Act, the Canadian government used an array of state documents and photographs, known as CI 9s, to identify and determine citizenship among Chinese immigrants. Cho investigates a vast archive of CI 9s to tell the stories of the “mass captured” and reflect on the history of citizenship in Canada.
A Historic Calgary Week event sponsored by Chinook Country Historical Society, the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre, and SSHRC.
Free and open to the public.
Screening and Discussion of Golden Gate Girls (2013)
Moderated by Nancy Rao (Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University)
Award-winning Hong Kong filmmaker S. Louisa Wei (School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong) will screen her acclaimed documentary Golden Gate Girls (2013) about Chinese American filmmaker Esther Eng (1914-1970). Eng was the first woman to direct Chinese-language films in the US and was once honoured as “South China’s first woman director.” Followed by discussion.
In English, with English and Chinese subtitles.
A Historic Calgary Week event sponsored by Chinook Country Historical Society and the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre.
Free and open to the public.
Multi-course traditional Chinese Banquet
In 1914, Winnifred Eaton, with her sister Sarah Bosse, wrote Chinese-Japanese Cookbook, the first North American-published book about Asian cuisine. Come enjoy a traditional Chinese banquet and learn more about Calgary Chinatown History and Chinese cuisine from by Calgary poet, playwright and essayist Dale Lee Kwong and food scholar Koby Song-Nichols.
Open to the public. Vegetarian ($40+taxes). Meat ($50+taxes). Prices inclusive of tax and gratuity.
*Please note the banquet is on the second floor and will require climbing a flight of stairs.
Sunday, July 30 (Post-Conference) — Downtown Calgary
“Winnifred Lived Here” Walking Tour
A free event, open to the public organized by Historic Calgary Week.
The charismatic bestselling novelist known as “Onoto Watanna” was a literary luminary in 1920s Calgary. Join author and literary historian Shaun Hunter for a walk to two of Winnifred Eaton Reeve’s many city addresses and a window into her storied life in the city she came to call home. This walk is designed for people who know very little about Eaton. Conference attendees are encouraged to take the Wednesday afternoon walk instead as space on Sunday’s Historic Calgary Week-sponsored walk is limited.
Meet at Lougheed House, 707 – 13th Avenue SW
Sponsored by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities and Chinook Country Historical Society (Historic Calgary Week)
Free and open to the public.